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Cory and Tom are wrapping up season 1 of Quantum Leap this week. They find themselves thrust into a noir style detective thriller as they discuss “Play It Again, Seymour.”
Play It Again, Seymour:
Sam finds himself as private eye Nick Allen, who happens to be a dead ringer for Humphrey Bogart, leaping into the middle of a mystery: who killed Phil Grimsley, Nick’s partner. The likely suspects are Phil’s own wife, Allison, and someone named Clapper that Seymour a newsboy who worships Nick, had heard “on the streets” was responsible for the crime.
Sam and Al have a big disagreement about Alison and Seymour, with Sam thinking she is innocent and Al thinking she is guilty, resulting in Al leaving for a while. Sam also lashes out at Seymour because of this but later apologises and the two discover that Alison has disappeared.
They find her at LaGuardia airport, having been kidnapped by a man named Lionel, who owns Nick’s office building, and who had killed Phil so that he and Allison could be together. Al returns and Sam apologises for his behavior and he helps Sam get the jump on Lionel, saving the day. Seymour, having also been attacked by Lionel, decides to give up his dream of being a detective like Nick and chooses to become a mystery writer instead, and with that final change to history, Sam leaps.
Ziggy’s Data Retrieval:
Claudia Christian played Allison in this episode, and was spot on casting! Fans of Babylon 5 might recognise her as Cmdr. Susan Ivanova, or to get really obscure, what about “Darth Vader’s Psychic Hotline” where she did the voice of Princes Leia?
Seymour was played by Willie Garson, who we recognise “Being John mMlkovich”, “Sex and the City 2” and “Stargate SG1.”
Lionel was played by Paul Linke, a rewatch connection back to Lois and Clark, he was the church deacon who helped Lois be kidnapped and we also discussed him as Ted Preminger in The Flash ’90.
Tony Heller is our unsung hero this week as Nick. QL is his only real profession performance but in 2016 and 2017, he has new credits for Australian TV’s Lateline, Insiders, ABC News Breakfast and a documentary called Climate Hustle. It turns out he now lobbies the Australian Government for solutions to climate change.
And finally, we couldn’t overlook the obvious noir references, most heavily sighted is “Casablanca” which is riffed on in the episode title (although inaccurate), the fact that Nick is often mistaken for Humphrey Bogart and the final scene at the airport.
Kiss with History:
We have a debate on our hands whether or not Sam meets Woody Allen in the airport. His mother calls him Allen, not Woody or Heywood. Plus, woody should be 17 at this time period. However, most sources sight this as being him.
***UPDATE***
We looked at the wikipedia preview on this matter. If we’d clicked through, we would have seen that Woody Allen was born Allan Stewart Konigsberg. Dah!
Al’s Five Wives:
Al references his first wife in this episode. Sam reads from Nick’s book, “She was a flamer. A redhead who could make Father Flanagan forget Boys Town”, to which Al responds “My first wife was just like that.”
So the chart of information begins. Here’s a look at our temp chart made on Google Sheets, but we’re working on a physical pin board!
Whats Next?
We begin season 2! The first 2 episodes are “Honeymoon Express” and “Disco Inferno”.
Thanks:
We give thanks to some dedicated fan sights. For more information on Quantum Leap, please take the time to check out The Quantum Leap Wiki and Al’s Place.
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